Usp22 is an intracellular regulator of systemic emergency hematopoiesis.

Emergency hematopoiesis is a concerted response aimed toward enhanced protection from infection, involving multiple cell types and developmental stages across the immune system. Despite its importance, the underlying molecular regulation remains poorly understood. The deubiquitinase USP22 regulates the levels of monoubiquitinated histone H2B (H2Bub1), which is associated with activation of interferon responses upon viral infection. Here, we show that in the absence of infection or inflammation, mice lacking Usp22 in all hematopoietic cells display profound systemic emergency hematopoiesis, evident by increased hematopoietic stem cell proliferation, myeloid bias, and extramedullary hematopoiesis. Functionally, loss of Usp22 results in elevated phagocytosis by neutrophilic granulocytes and enhanced innate protection against Listeria monocytogenes infection. At the molecular level, we found this state of emergency hematopoiesis associated with transcriptional signatures of myeloid priming, enhanced mitochondrial respiration, and innate and adaptive immunity and inflammation. Augmented expression of many inflammatory genes was linked to elevated locus-specific H2Bub1 levels. Collectively, these results demonstrate the existence of a tunable epigenetic state that promotes systemic emergency hematopoiesis in a cell-autonomous manner to enhance innate protection, identifying potential paths toward immune enhancement.

Inflammatory exposure drives long-lived impairment of hematopoietic stem cell self-renewal activity and accelerated aging.

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) mediate regeneration of the hematopoietic system following injury, such as following infection or inflammation. These challenges impair HSC function, but whether this functional impairment extends beyond the duration of inflammatory exposure is unknown. Unexpectedly, we observed an irreversible depletion of functional HSCs following challenge with inflammation or bacterial infection, with no evidence of any recovery up to 1 year afterward. HSCs from challenged mice demonstrated multiple cellular and molecular features of accelerated aging and developed clinically relevant blood and bone marrow phenotypes not normally observed in aged laboratory mice but commonly seen in elderly humans. In vivo HSC self-renewal divisions were absent or extremely rare during both challenge and recovery periods. The progressive, irreversible attrition of HSC function demonstrates that temporally discrete inflammatory events elicit a cumulative inhibitory effect on HSCs. This work positions early/mid-life inflammation as a mediator of lifelong defects in tissue maintenance and regeneration.

Tau in the brain interstitial fluid is fragmented and seeding-competent.

In Alzheimer disease, Tau pathology is thought to propagate from cell to cell throughout interconnected brain areas. However, the forms of Tau released into the brain interstitial fluid (ISF) in vivo during the development of Tauopathy and their pathological relevance remain unclear. Combining in vivo microdialysis and biochemical analysis, we find that in Tau transgenic mice, human Tau (hTau) present in brain ISF is truncated and comprises at least 10 distinct fragments spanning the entire Tau protein. The fragmentation pattern is similar across different Tau transgenic models, pathological stages and brain areas. ISF hTau concentration decreases during Tauopathy progression, while its phosphorylation increases. ISF from mice with established Tauopathy induces Tau aggregation in HEK293-Tau biosensor cells. Notably, immunodepletion of ISF phosphorylated Tau, but not Tau fragments, significantly reduces its ability to seed Tau aggregation and only a fraction of Tau, separated by ultracentrifugation, is seeding-competent. These results indicate that ISF seeding competence is driven by a small subset of Tau, which potentially contribute to the propagation of Tau pathology.